• Dr. Anil Dutta Mishra

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the most ordinary person but in due course of time, through his persistent positive approach to life, he reached at the highest stage of life where very few have reached. He is next to Christ and Gautam Budha. He always follows non-violence in thought, action and deeds. Non-violence was a part of the daily life. His life synthesized non-violence and political activism. He believed in human dignity and freedom; he fought injustice with words, ideals, and self-discipline. Gandhi’s unique philosophy helped free India and influenced generations of peace activists all over globe. Throughout his life, Gandhi remained committed to non-violence and truth even in the most extreme situations. He lived simply, organizing an ashram that was self-sufficient in its needs. Making his own clothes — the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl woven with a charkha, he lived on a simple vegetarian diet. He used rigorous fasts, for long periods, for both self-purification and protest. Same thing one can see and observe in Rahul Gandhi. Inside and outside, he is same and no duality. He believes and leads a life of simplicity with a firm conviction of harmony, secularism, and save democracy with a non-violent approach. Rahul Gandhi’s life is message for downtrodden and voiceless people. His ‘Bharat Jodo pad yatra’ was similar to that of Gandhi’s Long March in South Africa.

An important goal pursued by Gandhi was austerity, particularly based on control of bodily appetites. As a young man, Gandhi began using food in experiments to test his willpower: “As I searched myself deeper, the necessity for changes both internal and external began to grow on me... I saw that the writers on vegetarianism had examined the question very minutely, attacking it in its religious, scientific, practical, and medical aspects.” The test of his will power and subsequent control of his will were disciplines that Gandhi cultivated in himself for the rest of his life. Later, this same austerity would help Gandhi to lead his people by example. I have no hesitation in saying that despite all odds, Rahul Gandhi never gave up fight for poor and downtrodden and for Mother India. Whatever he says, later on ruling party adopts it and implements it.

Gandhi’s curiosity and his desire to understand and improve himself led him to spend hours studying books and contemplating philosophical ideas. He found the Bhagavad-Gita, the sacred text of the Hindus, especially inspiring. This text contained lessons in discipline and selflessness, mercifulness, and freedom from greed or jealousy. Yet certain aspects of Hinduism did not appeal to Gandhi. He rejected the notion that to be devout meant to live quietly, meditating as some mystic Hindus did. Instead, Gandhi felt the need to act. Similarly, Rahul is Karam Yogi par excellence and believed in performing the duty. Very soon, a time will come when he will be known as game changer in Indian politics. Wait and watch.

Gandhi beautifully integrated and harmonized the values of ‘artha and moksha’, secularism and spirituality, power and justice. ‘Purusharthas’, as interpreted by Gandhi, provide a set of values and ideals within which public discourse in India should be conducted. He presents a balanced view of life. Wealth, power, pleasure, aesthetic beauty, ethical integrity and freedom of the spirit, the ‘purusharthas’, are goals that all Indians seek. Gandhi explains how and why that seeking should be the basis of modern India’s public philosophy. Rahul Gandhi’s main thrust is to transform Indian youth and their thinking above class, caste and regionalism. He tries to connect with youth and women from all sections of society through dialogue, yatras, living with them, discourses, helping whenever necessary. His politics is politics of love and sharing and caring not hatred and division. Gandhi himself beautifully sums up, he alone is religious, he alone is happy and he alone is wealthy, who is sincere in himself, bears no malice, exploits no one and always acts with a pure mind. Such men alone can serve mankind. In present day politics, Rahul Gandhi is true follower of pristine purity and core value system which is necessary for keeping India united and strong. If we sustain a perfect equilibrium between our political and simple life, we can keep discontent and unhappiness at bay. There is a strong correlation between the two. Politics also has a simplicity in essence. Take for example life of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bhadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi and many others. What is remarkable about Gandhi is that instead of falsely glorifying the past, he in fact, infused the past with his modern ideas of truth, justice, fearlessness, fraternity, absence of hierarchy, and dignity of the individual values which he thought were essential for the revival of our ancient but also decadent society. Thus, Gandhi was most unsparing in condemning all that was reactionary, oppressive and exploitative in our traditional customs, characterizing them as the excretions of the historical process, and called for their absolute elimination. In short, Gandhi was traveled from truth to the higher truth and was the first person in the history of the world who focused on culture of non-violence and power of masses for social change and liberation from poverty, ignorance, illiteracy etc. We have buried Gandhi, along with our self-respect and self-esteem. Now the time has come to follow the basic tenets of Gandhism, which is core of all religious thoughts and is essential for human-centric approach. Read Gandhi’s ‘Hind Swaraj’ if you love the human family and this earth which is our home. Read it if you wish to do your little bit to halt man’s mad race towards self-extinction. Gandhi’s techniques are most powerful and permanent weapon to solve political, social and economic as well as religious problems. It holds significance even today in our democratic setup against any perpetrated evil. Gandhi claimed that the Sarvodaya social order would be free from moral degradation, economic exploitation and political subjugation. The modern world is facing an unprecedented crisis. Violence has replaced the low of love; machine has replaced man and individual has become a mere cog in the wheel of the state. The old world is worn out and dead but the new world is yet to be born. The values of materialism, industrialism and consumerism are being challenged but the manifesto of the alternative civilization remains hazy. In such a dismal scenario, Gandhi provides a ray of hope for a better future and humanized world. In fact, times demands Gandhi to save democracy and constitutional values.

The author is an Eminent Gandhian scholar and author of ‘Reading Gandhi’